It's time for softball, construction and health care

Quietly and with little fanfare Pease International Tradeport is becoming a Seacoast medical mecca.

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Posted Mar. 17, 2014 at 2:00 AM

Posted Mar. 17, 2014 at 2:00 AM

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Quietly and with little fanfare Pease International Tradeport is becoming a Seacoast medical mecca.

Slowly, steadily, the number of medical service providers, suppliers and biotechnology companies has grown.

Today more than 20 medical-related businesses are serving the tradeport's rapidly growing work force.

"We have 8,000 people working on the tradeport, and doctors and other medical practices want to go where the masses are," said Renee Riedel-Plummer, vice president of marketing at Two International Group, in a Pease Quarterly interview. She touts the tradeport's central location, ample parking, handicapped-accessible buildings and proximity to local hospitals.

One of the most visible medical projects on the tradeport is a new 37,000 square foot building under construction at 25 New Hampshire Ave. for Hospital Corporation of America, the parent company of Portsmouth Regional Hospital, which will house a family practice, lab and occupational health services.

Medical-based businesses run the gamut from Seacoast Orthopedic Massage, a one-man operation owned by Scott Corliss to Lonza Biologic, a biotech giant that employs 780 workers on the tradeport. Medtronic Advanced Engergy, the former Salient Surgical, is growing at a record-setting pace, from 40 employees in 2008 to 400 today.

Nearly all these businesses generously took the time to answer a brief survey from Pease Quarterly and it is our pleasure to share their stories with you in this edition.

As the snow begins to melt, the Tenants Association at Pease is gearing up for a busy spring. The roster is nearly set for the TAP Softball League, which started six years ago with just four teams and has grown to 16 teams this season with 320 players. TAP has all kinds of business networking opportunities planned for the coming months and you can learn about them at their soon-to-be-updated Web site www.tenantsatpease.org

If softball is not your thing, Pease Golf Course is also getting ready for spring golfers and will have some really cool new training tools including a shot tracker that records the distance of your drives to an app on your smart phone.

In this edition we'll update you on the endless Spaulding Turnpike work, which will result in new access to the tradeport via Arboretum Drive, on the multiuse path that will make it easier to bike to the tradeport from Route 33 and on parking improvements at C&J Bus Lines and the state's Park and Ride lot on Grafton Road.

We'll introduce you to the head brewer at Redhook and the hard-working chef and owner of Belle Peppers II and Tradeport Pizza.

We have good news to report about the health of Pease Development Authority Chairman Art Nickless and we pay tribute to Pease Greeters founder Ed Johnson, who died in December.

Finally, we can't forget our Air Force roots and there is big news coming from the Air National Guard as it gets ready to be the first in the nation to receive the next generation KC-46A refueling tanker and gets its new squadron operations facility up and running.

This is the fourth edition of Pease Quarterly, which means in June we'll be celebrating our first anniversary. We are extremely grateful to all our readers and advertisers who have made this new publication successful beyond our wildest dreams. As always, if you want to suggest stories or ways to improve Pease Quarterly I encourage you to write to me at haltschiller@seacoastonline.com.